Once inside the ladies room and making sure I was alone, I called Ginger.

"How's prom?" she asked sarcastically instead of saying hello.

"You were right, okay? I am so not here as his friend. I just spent the most awkward 30 minutes making small talk with a pair of couples who are very clearly rooting for Chandler and I to make the plunge into their side of the pasture," I said hurriedly.

"What? What are you talking about, pastures?"

"His friends think we're dating, okay? I need you to call me back in 15 minutes and tell me something bad has happened."

"Are you seriously doing this?" Ginger asked skeptically.

"Yes, I'm seriously doing this. There is no way that after tonight I'm going to be able to let this guy down easy if things continue on this way. He's too nice, his friends are too nice and if I don't get the heck outta here soon, I'm gonna be too nice, too."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but fine. I'll call you back in 15."

Before I left the ladies room, I set my phone to vibrate and returned, my purse now clutched in my hand, waiting for Ginger's call.

30 minutes later, me, Chandler and the 2 happy couples are seated at a table in the corner of the room, listening to the MC talk about what a great year it's going to be and blah blah blah blah blahbiddy blah.

Finally, my purse vibrates in my lap and I casually pick up the phone, pretending to not already know who it was calling. I whispered, "Hello?"

"Something bad has happened," Ginger said, totally taking the que from Sex and the City I was hoping she'd pick up on.

I said nothing in return and quietly slipped out the side door, around the corner and into the stairwell.

"It's about time! you were supposed to call me 15 minutes ago!"

"Oh, you're being ridiculous. If you want to leave that badly, just leave! I'm meeting PF Mike at City Bar at 10 if you wanna meet us there," Ginger suggested, giving me a destination to work towards.

"I can't just leave. Not yet. Call me back in an hour, okay?"

"I am not calling you again. This is stupid. Just tell him you had a nice time, and leave. No one said you had to stay there all night. Just go!" Ginger insisted.

"Look, it will be awkward if I just leave which is why I needed you to be my excuse," I argued.

"Okay, fine. I'm your excuse, but I'm not calling you back."

"Fine," I said and quickly hung up.

"Everything okay?" Chandler whispered in my ear when I sat back down.

"Sort of. That was Ginger. She sounds like she's been drinking since we dropped her off. She called to tell me she was meeting up with PF Mike."

"PF Mike?" Chandler asked, confused. "

"Yeah, PF stands for platonic friend. Like us, you know?"

"Ah. So, am I PF Chandler?"

I smiled. "I prefer Chandler, but if you want the distinction of PF before your name, I can arrange for that."

Luckily, Chandler took that explanation quite well. "Nah, Chandler's fine with me. So is she going to be okay?"

"I guess that depends on how you define okay," I said, trying to make it clear that Ginger was not "out of the woods" just yet.

After that, Chandler continued to drink, getting a little bit tipsy, and let his hair down a bit on the dance floor. At this point, I was feeling a little bit bad because I knew my frankness about platonic friendship, despite our mutual designation of "just friends", hurt his feelings and he was trying not to let it show. The 6 of us were having a good time, being silly, doing the YMCA. But then the DJ mixed things up a bit and through out a slow song, which caused Chandler to grab my hand and pull me close. He wrapped his arm around the small of my back, and our bodies were sandwiched together. After a few minutes of being smooshed together like that, I could feel Chandler getting a hard-on as we swayed back and forth to the music.

The harder he got, the more uncomfortable I got and was feeling desperate to get out of there. I looked at my watch. It had been more than hour since I last spoke with Ginger and knew my witching hour was getting close. I had to get out of there, STAT.

As soon as the song was over, the DJ switched it up to something more lively and I jumped on the chance to peel Chandler off of me.

"I am really warm. Would you mind grabbing me a glass of water while I go to the ladies room?" I asked, hoping to draw attention away from the awkward moment that had passed between us.

Chandler, slightly flushed, happily agreed.

I slipped into the ladies room and called Ginger.

"Where are you?"

"City Bar, where are you?"

"The ladies room, but I'll be there in 15 minutes, don't go anywhere."

I freshened up and when I returned to the ballroom, I found Chandler waiting for me near our table.

I smiled as I took the glass of water from his hands. "Thank you, I needed this." I took a big drink and said, "Ginger left me a voicemail. She's really upset. She was crying and apologized for interrupting my night out. She wants me to come over later. I think she just doesn't want to be alone."

"That's understandable. Look, it sounds like your friend really needs you. You should go. There's only another hour left here anyway."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel like I'm abandoning you," I said, lying through my teeth, feeling like a total shit for weaseling my way out of this date like this.

"No, don't ridiculous. I had a great time, it was fun to hang out with you again," he said handing me my claim tag for my shawl in the coat room.

"Thank you, I had a great time, too. Are you going to be able to get home okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm actually crashing here at the hotel anyway, so I'll catch the T back home tomorrow."

I smiled, relieved, realizing the bullet I dodged. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and like Cinderella running from the ball at midnight, I practically sprinted down the stairs and out the front door.

It felt good to be outside in the cool air. As I made my way down Boylston towards City Bar, I felt conflicted. I felt like an ass for ditching Chandler, lying and making up some ridiculous stupid story about why I had to leave. But at the same time, felt so relieved knowing things could've been a hell of a lot more awkward had I stayed.

So...

I'm not the only one who's lied and made up shit to get out of a date before. What's the worst (or best!) excuses you've given to get out of an awkward situation?